Exhibition celebrates 50 years of counter culture activity at university

Exhibition celebrates 50 years of counter culture activity at university

AN exhibition looking at the “counter-cultural” activity in and around the University of Bradford will open later this month.

Subveillance is the first of a number of art events being held over the next 18 months that will celebrate the university’s art scene. This particular exhibition looks at how students have protested and pioneered in past five decades.

Current and former students are being asked to bring in pieces they think should be part of the exhibition.

The exhibition opens in the university's Gallery II on September 23, but visitors will be able to get a sneak peak today and tomorrow when the gallery opens as part of the Adam Curle Symposium, celebrating 40 years of the Peace Studies department.

The exhibition will include scripts of politically themed plays, written and performed by former students, photos and banners documenting one Peace Studies student’s anti militarisation protests, and costumes belonging to a female trapeze group, who formed in the city.

The exhibition runs until December 8, and during that time visitors will be asked to “share” and “purge” personal archives that relate to Bradford over the past 50 years.

The exhibition is being curated by Helen Kaplinski, who has gathered together stories of the university’s history.

She has scoured through copies of university magazine Javelin, issues of which will be on display.

One of the contributors to the exhibition has been Dusty Rhodes, a former student who was involved in multiple groups within the university, and went on organise Bradford Festival.

He has provided a suitcase full of programmes, newsletters and photographs from his time at the university.

Some of the most striking exhibits are costumes worn by Skinning the Cat, an all-female aerial trapeze group started by Bradford College student Becky Truman. Mr Rhodes was an early champion of the group, and Bradford Festival gave them a platform in their early performances.

One of the costumes, The Stretch Twins, is of two alien like creatures, bound together.

One part of the exhibit looks at the protests of Lindis Percy, a former Peace Studies student and founding member and joint coordinator of the Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases. Her protests at bases, including Menwith Hill near Harrogate, have led to her being arrested many times.

There are banners and a film of the protests, as well as details of her arrests.

Also on display are pages of scripts written for university drama groups by David Edgar, who went on to become an accomplished playwright. The End, on display in the exhibit, has never been published.

Mrs Kaplinsky said: “This exhibition is about the relationship between art and activism.

“There is an invitation for people to come to the exhibition and share any information they want and discuss the issues surrounding sharing information.

“There is a space where we will be displaying what people bring in over the course of the exhibition. Part of the exhibition is set up like a stage, so we want people to come and propose performances.”

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